The reality of Istikhara: We often remain in doubt regarding Istikhara and think that we will see a baba ji in the dreams wearing a long robe and holding a stick in his hand and he will guide us in the dream. O servants of Allah! It does not work like that. Istikhara means to request Allah Almighty to reveal to your heart, His guidance so that you can decide about something which leads to an overall goodness. Allah only makes you attentive to that and this is called Istikhara. And this needs a sheer concentration.

Sheer Concentration: Then the saint said: I hold a spiritual gathering everyday where Allah is remembered so he should attend the sessions for forty days then he will be told how the Surah Fatiha would become Ism-e-Azam for him. He agreed to it. If someone has sincere intention then it is not difficult to do anything for even forty years rather than just 40 days. But if the intention is not sincere then one cannot find anything and will end up in thinking many bad things and defects in Godly persons and this is a fact.

Strive of forty days: I share a personal experience when my spiritual mentor Sayyed Muhammed Abdullah Hajveri (May Allah be pleased with him) mentioned that if you perform some deed regularly for forty days, then the deed becomes amazingly effective. The experience is that though it is not impossible but quite difficult to perform something with regularity and having fulfilled all the conditions. It is not uncommon to do something continuously for forty days and there remains some deficiency. For example some people say that we would perform the congregational prayers for forty consecutive days without missing the initial Takbir. Though there are some fortunate people who are able to accomplish it but it is not difficult. Therefore that saint asked him to attend his gatherings for forty days. Now it is worth considering that why did the saint have asked him to come along for forty days?

The struggle of saints on the hearts:

The man was asked so that he could develop the capability to experience the consequential effectiveness in his heart and he becomes spiritually powerful. When we hear some saints and godly people who invite others to their gatherings is just because they want to prepare the soil of our hearts ready for growing the seed of love of Divine Love. This frequent visiting to their gatherings makes the heart considerate and mild as like when the soil is soft then whatever you sow in it will grow very soon and will reap a good crop. In contrast to this if someone has his heart as hardened as a rock will be very difficult to reap Allah’s love like the rocky surface which cannot grow any vegetation. Now after forty days, he came and said to the saint,’’ it’s been forty days now since I have been attending your gatherings. Now teach me how Surah Al-Fatiha will become Ism-e-Azam (The mighty name) for me? The saint closed his eyes and asked him if he had counted the days. The man replied,’ yes because you yourself had asked me to attend the gatherings for forty days. The saint replied: I had not asked you to count the days, I had just asked you to build a relationship with Allah and you just continued to count the days only. You could not strengthen your link with the Almighty rather you just counted the days and so your heart has not yet acquired the capability to withstand the power of Surah Al-Fatiha. He added: start the days count from tomorrow and build passion for Allah, love him like Laila had deep affection for Majnoon. The man had a sincere zeal so he agreed to start it from the day one. Had he not got the sincere intention, he would have walked away saying that you had an ill will and that’s why you just wasted my time. Rather he continued attending his gatherings for forty days but did not count the days although the saint was counting. When the fortieth day came, the saint asked him while the person had finished his participation on the day forty that how many days had passed. He replied that he had no idea but it seems like a few days. Then the saint said, no it has been forty days and now you are ready to be blessed with the revelations of might of Surah Al-Fatiha.

The morsel of legit earnings: the first thing is that you should have meal of legitimate earnings. In our society, the distinction between halal and haram rizq has faded and even our hearts have stopped to bother if the sustenance is halal or not. We have stopped wearing white clothes and since then we became reckless to even ponder about what filthy sins we are carrying along. My spiritual master Hazrat Sayyed Muhammed Abdullah Hajveri (may Allah be pleased with him) would say: we all are like machine men in a workshop. He likened this to say that like the machine men working in the workshop do not bother about the scars on the clothes and the filthy oil, grease and other filths continue to stick on their clothes but they don’t bother as they accept them as their second nature.. That’s why he would always emphasize to wear white clothes as it is also one of the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him).Second thing the saint advised was to recite Surah Al-Fatiha in the gatherings of the pious people and third thing was to avoid all sorts of sins though small or major.

Gathering of pious people: there lies a big secret to recite Surah Al-Fatiha in the gatherings of the pious people as in such gatherings there must be at least one pious person who would have been blessed with the effectiveness of Surah Al-Fatiha and through his blessings , the reciter would also be blessed similarly. It is just like that a mosque full of the praying people must have one such person, due to whom the prayers of all the people may get accepted. Even some saints say that among the pilgrims, there may be a pilgrim whose Labbaik is accepted and due to his blessings the Labbaik of all the pilgrims may also get accepted.(To be continued…